BOSTON – May 22, 2016 –Dockwa, Inc., an award-winning software company that has revolutionized the leisure boating and marina industry through a seamless reservation platform, announced today their marina marketing and operations offering, Dockwa Connect.

"We created Dockwa Connect as a response to the needs of our existing marina partners. Each year they spend their marketing budget at the beginning of the year with little to no insight as to how much business those efforts generate," said Matt Fradette, Dockwa's CRO and Co-founder. "Marinas also strive for excellent communication with their customers, but simply don't have the time to create catered email communications for the boater prior to arrival. Dockwa Connect solves for both of these problems."

In their research, Dockwa found that the gaps in marina-boater communication are universal, regardless of region, size, and private or municipal ownership. Dockwa also found that their partner marinas, typically technologically-progressive marinas, wish to differentiate themselves by creating a premium customer experience that consumers have come to expect in other industries.

"Our goal is to elevate marinas that are willing to embrace modern technology. Mobile devices have revolutionized the customer relationship, and consumers have come to expect a mobile experience – making proactive mobile communication far and away the easiest method to get in front of a target audience. Dockwa Connect bridges the gap in technology, communication, and the mobile customer relationship by supplementing the limited bandwidth of a marina's staff," Fradette added.

Dockwa Connect also seeks to solve for the excessive budgets marinas spend when they fall back on marketing methods such as print advertising in industry publications, which are challenging to calculate a return on investment, limits the impact of a marina's messaging, and shifts the power to the publishers who own the advertising inventory. Dockwa Connect empowers marinas to meet customers where they live: in their inbox and on their smartphone.

In addition to Dockwa’s reservation management software, Dockwa Connect arms marinas with tools to take ownership of their marketing spend, and better engage with customers. These tools include custom automated emails (pre-arrival, in-port, post-checkout), promotional codes, and advanced analytics – tools which give marinas the ability to reach the right customer, at the right time, with the right message, and track which acquisition channels are working best.

"We launched Dockwa Connect at the height of the boating season in many regions and have already had an influx of customers – which speaks to just how crucial this need from our marinas truly is," said Fradette. "One of the most appealing aspects of Dockwa Connect is how quick and easy it is to implement, with limited involvement and time required by a marina's staff."

Marina owners interested in learning more about Dockwa Connect can click here to request a free demo.

About Dockwa

Founded in May 2015, Dockwa is an award-winning, unified marina operations platform which connects boaters to marinas in real time, online and by app. Boaters download the free iOS or Android app or log in online and then search, explore, reserve and pay for their reservations in a matter of minutes. Marinas then use the Dockwa platform to confirm the reservation, collect payment and deposit the customers' information into their intelligent database with a single click. Headquartered in Newport, RI, Dockwa rapidly expanded along the eastern seaboard in its first year to a growing marina network of more than 400 marinas and tens of thousands of boaters. Dockwa is now expanding into the Great Lakes region, the West Coast and beyond. For more information, visit: https://dockwa.com and follow on Facebook, LinkedIn, and @getdockwa on Twitter.